An Impressive Return
by xmute S O U Lx
Summary: Post GS5. Phoenix is back after seven years of playing piano in shady bars. He's rough and ready, but is his first case a little bit too much for him to handle? Can a certain someone help him get through it all? PWxMF/DGxMB/MExPW
1. Chapter 1

*****Disclaimer: I don't own Gyakuten Saiban (Phoenix Wright) or any of its characters~!*****

**----~~~----**

Chapter One: A Meeting?

"What are you doing here, pal?!??!?"

I winced and turned to find exactly the man I'd hoped not to find. "Detective Gumshoe," I responded with a tight smile. "Edgeworth called me down here. Said it was important."

"P-Prosecutor Edgeworth?" Gumshoe's scruffy, roughed-up face took on its usual puzzled expression, his dark eyes surveying me carefully. "Actually, he called me down, too, pal. I wonder what it's about."

I tried not to roll my eyes. As nice a guy as Dick Gumshoe is, he's usually pretty slow on the uptake. I pulled at my collar, settling onto the small, cushioned bench outside of prosecutorial office number 1204, which belonged to Miles Edgeworth, and wiped my sweaty palms on my blue jeans. I actually had no idea what the meeting was about either. Edgeworth was a cold, generally distant man who usually avoided me like the plague. Why he would call me (along with Detective Gumshoe) to his office late on a Tuesday night was beyond me.

Gumshoe settled onto the bench next to me. I could tell he'd been on the beat for a long time, because he smelled like a mixture of sweat and slummy streets. _Doesn't he ever take a break to shower?_ I wondered, turning my head to avoid the brunt of the smell.

"Alright, pal, what's taking so long?!" Gumshoe shouted suddenly, several minutes later. He stood up, pacing in front of me. Two things one has to know about Gumshoe: one, he's impatient. Two, Edgeworth makes him nervous. Put the two together, and it's an awful combination. I sighed, looking up at the wild-eyed detective with only a small amount of sympathy.

"Detective, Miles Edgeworth is one of the busiest, most famous prosecutors in the country," I reminded him with a firm tone. "He's also one of the most successful, mainly because of his unparalleled focus and work ethic. I'm sure he's in the middle of something, and I'm also sure he hasn't forgotten he asked us here." _It was only an hour ago that we received the call,_ I thought dryly. "He'll ask for us when he's ready."

Gumshoe turned to me angrily, opening his mouth to respond when a loud _CRACK_ rang out from inside Edgeworth's office. I jumped to my feet, looking at the detective in alarm. In the room, I heard a few loud bangs and crashes before another _CRACK_ and a woman's scream. _We have to get in there!_ I thought, shocked.

The detective was way ahead of me. He shouted, "M-Mr. Edgeworth, pal!!" and ran straight for the door. He threw it open, and I followed him into the room to find—

"M-Maggey Byrde?!" I cried in shock. Maggey turned to face us, tears streaming down her cheeks, a gun in her hand. It was then that I saw what—rather, who—she was standing over. On the floor lay Miles Edgeworth, bleeding from the chest. It was clear what had happened to him. "M-Miles," I whispered incredulously, feeling the tears prick at my own eyes. "N-No….. No……!"

"M-Maggey," Detective Gumshoe stammered, looking at her with disbelief as she dropped the pistol. Her clothes were soaked in Miles's blood. "Come on, Ms. Byrde," Gumshoe mumbled, clearly reluctant. He pulled pair of handcuffs from deep in his pocket, putting them on Maggey's wrists with the slow deliberation of someone obligated. "How could you….?"

"I-I didn't do it!" Maggey cried, tears still streaming down her face. "I didn't do it!" She turned and saw me, and as she did, her eyes widened. "Ph-Phoenix Wright!" she cried, sounding a touch relieved. "P-Please, you have to represent me! I didn't do it!!"

I watched, incredulous, as Gumshoe hauled Maggey away. I looked down at my old friend, crumpled and child-like on the floor. "Maggey didn't shoot you, did she, Miles?" I asked him quietly, squatting down to examine him a little more closely. Out of the corner of my eye, I noted a piece of paper sticking out of his clenched fist. "No. No, Maggey didn't shoot you," I decided, standing up and exiting the crime scene after Gumshoe. I was going to have to complete an investigation, but I had no legal right to be at that crime scene yet. Gently, I touched the newly gleaming attorney's badge on the inside of my dark jacket. For a first case following my return, this one sure was a doozy.

----~~~----

AN: _Yup. Short and not terribly revealing, for a first chapter. Looking ahead: more on our narrator and the return of an old friend. Oh, and more Maggey and Gumshoe. 3 For those unfamiliar with the series as "Gyakuten Saiban," this story is surmised to be sometime after Apollo Justice, and probably after Ace Attorney Investigations as well, though I won't really mention much about that. And please don't flame me about Edgeworth's death! He'll still be around in the story…. You'll see._

_Rate and Review, please! 'Til next time,_

_muteSOUL_


	2. Chapter 2

*****Disclaimer: I don't own Gyakuten Saiban (Phoenix Wright) or any of its characters~!*****

----~~~----

Chapter Two: The First Night

"Yeah. No. Right in his office. She was apparently meeting with him for some reason. I don't know. Of course she didn't. No, I'm taking this one. Please. You do that. Night, kiddo."

I hung up the phone, running my fingers through my dark, spiky hair. Why was it always Maggey Byrde? And if it wasn't Maggey, it was Larry Butz. Were they just born with a natural knack for getting into compromising situations? This would make the third time Maggey Byrde was formally accused of murder, and I'd represented her in court twice before. If I could say anything about her, I'd say she was very, very unlucky.

"But there's no way she did it," I murmured to myself, reading over the brief, incomplete report Dick Gumshoe had faxed me just a few moments before. I'd get to the bottom of it. I always did—even when I wasn't a lawyer. I shuddered, feeling my heart pound as I reread the account Gumshoe had prepared from Maggey. That's right; I hadn't been a lawyer for eight long years. But once they caught the man who framed me for forgery, I started on the path to regaining my attorney's badge. Now, here I was, a week after I'd gotten it, with a case like Maggey's all lined up.

It was almost like Edgeworth knew.

_Edgeworth knew?_ I thought to myself. _That's ridiculous._ And yet….

I jumped as my phone rang again. I answered it cautiously, wincing as a high-pitched, LOUD voice came back from the other end.

"Daddy! How could you tell Polly about the new case before you told me??!??!?"

I winced. "Trucy, calm down." Trucy Wright (née Trucy Enigmar) was not my biological daughter. She was the daughter of an old client who was forced into hiding, and I took her under my wing. I raised her, and eventually discovered her true roots. Now Trucy and her brother, my apprentice Apollo Justice, lived together in a flat a few blocks away from Wright & Co. Law Offices. I'd even helped them discover their mother, Thalassa Gramarye Enigmar, who had suffered a bout of amnesia and had become a Borginian legend called Lamiroir.

But Trucy had always been special. She was obsessed with two things: magic and law. I hadn't intended to tell her about this case, because of its implications with my past. I didn't want to reveal that much of myself to her, especially with her age and disposition, but I supposed I had to tell her now.

"Trucy, I'm sorry. I'm handling this case personally, and I—"

"You're hopeless." I heard the girl sigh, then giggle on the other end of the line. "You don't even have an assistant."

"Trucy, you can't—"

"Don't worry, Daddy. Not me. I looked into your days as 'Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.'" Trucy sounded proud of herself, but to me, her words were ominous.

"Did you?" I asked nonchalantly. "And what did you find?"

"Maya Fey." A long pause. Me, speechless. Trucy, waiting for me to speak. "Well, Daddy, she's just been living out in the country, at a place called Kurain Village. I sent her a telegram and I expect she'll be on the first train into town."

I didn't really know what to say. How many years had it been since Maya went back to Kurain Village with Pearls? At least eight, if not longer. After a long silence, Trucy excused herself from the phone and went to bed, sounding pretty somber for my little wildfire of a child. I felt a little chagrined as I lay in bed that night, wondering if I'd made her feel bad with my silence. I decided I'd make it up to her later (I always did) and just tried to sleep.

----~~~----

In spite of myself, I went to the train station early the next morning. I was only half-expecting her to show up, but a mixture of sleep deprivation and foolish hope led me to the familiar bench in that old station. The bench had been repainted since last I bid Maya farewell, but the classic whorl of the bench's ironwork and the rust around its feet revealed it to be the same.

I unbuttoned my blue blazer as I sat, my overcoat crinkling beneath me. I sighed, feeling goose bumps erupt across my skin in the morning chill. Why was my heart beating so fast? I was sure the conductor across the way could hear it. Why was she getting to me so much? Maya was practically a kid when I last saw her—Pearls in tow, of course. Maybe that was why it was so terrifying—I had no idea how the years had changed her.

Just then, the train from Kurain pulled into the station. This was it; no more time for contemplation. I stood as people began to pour forth from the cars, scanning the crowd with my heart in my throat. When the people began to thin out and I hadn't seen her, I realized I'd been a fool.

She hadn't come.

Of _course_ she hadn't come. Who would honor a telegram in the middle of the night from a mysterious girl claiming to be the daughter of an old friend? Especially when you know the friend to be single and childless!

_Sorry, Maya_, I thought to myself, turning toward the exit.

"Nick?!"

I froze. That nickname. That feminine voice. I spun on my heel to find a woman about six inches shorter than me regarding me with a contemplative expression. She looked vaguely like Maya Fey. She was still rail thin, as always, and dressed in her traditional purple and pink yukata, her sleek, black hair hanging loosely about her shoulders. She looked a little unkempt, as travellers often do, and her eyes sparkled with mist. I felt the heat of tears prick my own eyes as well. "M-Maya?"

"So it is you," she murmured. Her voice had deepened somewhat in the last several years, taking on the mystic quality befitting a spirit medium. Her shape had finally filled out as well—looking at Mia and Morgan, it had always been inconceivable to me that Maya had lacked the family curves. But she certainly didn't now. "Phoenix Wright," she said, snapping me back to reality. I blushed, hoping she hadn't caught me staring. "It's been a long time."

"I could say the same to you," I murmured, taking a step closer to her. She pulled her shawl more closely around her frame, regarding me through long, thick eyelashes. I cleared my throat. "I assume Trucy explained the case to you in the telegram?"

"She didn't say much, Nick," the medium responded, shifting her weight uneasily. "Is she really your daughter?"

"In every sense of the word," I said with confidence, as I always did. "But we can talk about my family later. Right now, we need to visit the detention center. Maggey Byrde's been accused of murder."

"Again?" Maya asked, hiding a smile behind a long sleeve. If circumstances were different, I might have smiled back. Old habits die hard.

"This one's different," I explained shortly, looking around the bustling station. I felt a pang of melancholy as I thought of the previous night. "It's…. It's Miles Edgeworth. And I'm a witness."

And so began the investigation.

----~~~----

AN: _And there it is. Maya Fey, back in action! Sorry that there's so much exposition, but things will begin to get action-y here soon. Looking ahead: Maggey and Gumshoe! 3 If you can't tell, I'm super-hot on this pairing. I love, love, love it! Also, Phoenix and Maya get down to bare bones in their investigation, given access to the crime scene and realizing that maybe this is all far bigger than they had anticipated._

_Please Rate and Review! (Hint: It's the only way I'll know if I should continue this! If you wanna see more, Review!) A bientot,_

_muteSOUL_


	3. Chapter 3

******Disclaimer: I don't own Gyakuten Saiban (Phoenix Wright) or any of its characters~!******

----~~~----

Chapter Three: Investigations

I led Maya to my car, a reasonable silver sedan outside the station. She gave a small cry, quickly regaining her composure—most unlike my once-rambunctious companion.

"Nick?" she cried. "You drive now?"

"Trucy thought it was appropriate for my comeback to law," I responded offhandedly, opening the door and watching her slip inside bewilderedly. I slipped into the driver's side, turning the key in the ignition. The car started with a purr and I pulled easily out of the lot, heading for the detention center. Maya seemed a little unnerved, so I took it slow.

"So w-what do you know about the case?" the medium asked, pressing her sleeve to her top lip to mask her nauseous expression. I suppressed a smile, turning my attention to the task at hand.

"Our client is Maggey Byrde," I began, rolling to a stop at a red light. "The victim is Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth. The murder took place in his office around eleven-thirty last night. Ms. Byrde is the only suspect, being the only visitor to his office that night between seven PM and the time of the murder. According to what Detective Gumshoe got out of her last night, Miles had called her there for a meeting."

I stopped talking as I pulled into the detention center's lot. Maya placed a hand on my knee as I cut the engine.

"Why were you and the detective there?" she asked quietly.

"Miles had asked us to meet with him, too," I explained, sighing. "It was weird. He called me at ten-fifteen last night asking me to come up to the prosecutor's office right away. I showed up and he was busy, and Gumshoe was also there with a claim of being summoned."

"What does it all mean, Phoenix?" Maya asked, brow furrowed. I gave her a hard look, thinking that I had a pretty good idea of what it might have meant.

"I have no idea, Maya," I answered shortly. "Come on, let's go talk to Maggey."

----~~~----

When we reached the visitor's room, Detective Gumshoe was already there, talking to Maggey.

"Mags, I don't know what to believe," he was saying, his gruff voice tight with emotion.

"Believe _me_, Dick," Maggey answered, arms folded over her chest, obscuring the Blue Badger emblem on her shirt. "It wasn't me!"

"I _saw_ you!" Gumshoe roared. "You were holding the gun! Covered in his blood!"

"Dick, I--"

"NO!" Gumshoe stood suddenly, upending his chair. He stormed past us, the look on his face utterly terrifying. I don't even think he saw us there. Maya looked at me, hand pressed to her chest. I nodded to her with a flash of a smile. For the first time since I'd picked her up, Maya smiled back, albeit nervously. I gently caught her fingers in mine and led her to the chairs across from Maggey. It was the first time I'd seen her since the previous night. It looked as though she had been afforded a change of clothes, but not a shower. Her face was still specked with my old friend's blood, and her hair was stiff and ruddy with the stuff. I swallowed hard, clenching my fists in my lap. I _would_ avenge him--by the courts.

"Good morning, Ms. Byrde," I said gently, taking note of the tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry about all that. He was very close to Mr. Edgeworth. I'd have a hard time believing that he was speaking out of anything other than raw emotion there."

Maggey sniffed, looking up at me with a watery smile. "Thanks, Mr. Wright," she murmured. "You've always been good with words when it counted. You'd just think, after two years of dating, that Dick would believe me."

"Well, Ms. Byrde, once we get your acquittal, there won't be much to disbelieve," I responded pointedly, looking at Maya. I was ready to get to work and antsy to start my investigation. Maya reached down and pulled a large, ornate fan from her belt and opened it, using it to hide her face.

"Maggey, can you tell us what happened last night?" she asked, right back to her old self. Always asking the questions for me! I smiled at her, still amazed that she'd come back.

"O-Of course," Maggey answered, looking a little shell-shocked. "Mr. Edgeworth called me at about ten o'clock. He asked me to come down to his office at my discretion--something about an old case that he wanted to clear up. I got to his office at about ten-twenty. He seemed a little frazzled when I got there, like he was trying to find something."

"Trying to find something?" Maya interrupted.

"Well, I don't know," Maggey retorted, flustered. "Maybe that wasn't it. But he was definitely upset about something. Anyway, he sat me down and we talked about Dick for a long time—maybe an hour. After that, suddenly, the lights went out. I heard the window slide open and heard a brief scuffle. The felt the two brush by me, and then someone was thrown into me. I moved away, holding my hands out to steady the person, and then I heard the gunshot. I was shocked, and I tried to feel around for the light switch. Then I heard a second gunshot. It was just a moment after that I found the light switch. When I flicked on the lights, I barely caught sight of the boot of the person who'd come in. They left through the window. Then I looked down and saw Miles on the floor, and I screamed. That was when you and Dick came in."

"Okay," I said, nodding, "but Maggey, why were you holding the gun? And why were you covered in Miles's blood?"

"I…. I don't know," she said, looking a little upset. "I found the gun by my feet when I turned on the lights, and picked it up to look at it. I was in such shock…. I didn't really know what I was doing."

"Did the forensics guys take a sample of the blood on you to make sure it was Miles's?" Maya asked suddenly, surprising me. Maggey looked a little upended, too.

"Well, no," she answered shakily. "Should they have?"

"Phoenix, it was dark when the two gunshots rang out," Maya said to me seriously. I was in awe of her brilliance and seriousness. "We don't know which hit Edgeworth, or who was by Maggey when she heard the first one. It stands to reason that she got covered in blood during the first gunshot, not the second. We should ask forensics to take a sample of the dried blood in her hair and run an ID match."

"That's a good idea, Maya," I answered, standing up to run to the phone. "Don't worry, Maggey. I believe you. We just have to find this other criminal."

Maggey sighed. "Thanks, Phoenix."

----~~~----

"Can you believe it?" Maya asked, flipping through the autopsy report. We were walking out of the criminal affairs building, heading for the prosecutor's offices. "The blood on Maggey wasn't Miles's at all! But they don't know whose it was…. So we aren't much further than we were before."

"I disagree," I answered, getting into the car with a wicked grin. "Clearly, if there was that much blood, this person was pretty substantially injured. There must be some blood at the crime scene. And that means clues. We're on a good track here. Thanks for thinking of it, Maya."

Maya afforded me a brief smile. "Let's just get there, Nick."

"Hey," I said, turning to look at her. "It's been eight years, Maya. I missed you. Don't you have anything to say about that?"

"Do you?" she asked acerbically. "Listen, Phoenix Wright, it HAS been eight years. Not once have I heard from you. You've never come to visit Pearly and me and you've never written. I wake up one night to find that you've got a daughter writing to me about a 'case I can't refuse?' What am I supposed to have to say?"

"Hey! Listen, you don't know all the facts!"

"Nick, I don't care. I came because I thought you were in trouble. I'm helping you with this case and then I'm going back to Pearl and Kurain Village—where I belong." She looked at me, and I gulped. I hadn't realized just how startlingly beautiful she'd become. It was a little scary. Or maybe a lot scary.

"Trucy's not—"

"I DON'T CARE!" The stony glare Maya was throwing at me looked almost exactly like the one her sister, Mia, used to give me when I was on the wrong track in court. "Just drive, Nick. Just….drive."

I did.

----~~~----

Miles's office was all lit up, crime scene investigators still wrapping up their paperwork in the lobby. The tape outline of Miles on the floor was grotesque; I couldn't look for long. But they'd left the piece of paper that was in his hand on the floor, which was good for me. I walked as close as I dared to go and examined the piece of paper—it was blank.

_So much for a lead_, I thought, sighing. Leave it to Miles to hold onto something immaterial and mean—even at the scene of his own murder. I examined the office, noting the signs of a struggle that seemed to mirror Maggey's testimony of a scuffle, and scuff marks on the window sill that seemed to indicate that someone had both opened it and gone through rather carelessly. The fire escape on the other side looked untouched, and the ladder was extended all the way down to the pavement.

Maya was sulking in the corner, watching my investigation in a furious, disinterested silence. I flinched every time I looked at her. I didn't realize she had been so affected by my lack of communication, but I knew one thing: bothering her now would do nothing for me.

I continued my investigation for a while, finding nothing more of particular use. I sighed, ripping off one of my gloves and turning to Maya to tell her we should leave, when I caught a glint of white under Miles's desk. My breath caught in my throat, and I coughed up a lung as I crawled under the desk to retrieve it. What I came up with (still coughing a little after having choked on my own saliva) looked like a business card. It was torn diagonally in half, and on it was printed what looked like half a circle with three spikes coming from the bottom. I frowned and added it to my record.

_Where's the other half….?_

----~~~----

AN: _Uh oh! Looks like Phoenix was in the doghouse and he didn't even know it. And what's with this mysterious intruder? Where's the other half of the business card? Looking ahead: Trial Day One and some more familiar faces!_

_I'd really like to thank Professor Snaglefoompus and PurpleKyu for your reviews, and Wolfareen for adding it as a Favorite. I think I'll continue this story and try to have more frequent updates, but only if I keep getting readers! I'm glad that it's not too stagnant (hopefully especially not now). This story will have some really sweet undertones. I can't wait for it to get reallllly good! _

_Rate and review until next time,_

_muteSOUL_


End file.
